Toulouse forwards coach Yannick Bru has admitted his surprise at the French Champions' start to the season in spite of the loss of their French stars to World Cup duty.

The former hooker made the claim after watching his side stroll to a 24-0 win over Biarritz at Ernest Wallon, a victory which had given the Toulouse coaching staff "almost total satisfaction."

"So far [in their absence] it has not been too bad," Bru told La Depeche du Midi. "We lack a bit of polish. But we saw some beautiful movement between the young lads and the not so young, the experienced and the not so experienced which gave us almost total satisfaction."

Racing Metro Coach Pierre Berbizier gave no excuses following his side's 11-22 home defeat to Clermont Auvergne at Yves du Manoir. The Parisian side started with debutant Sébastien Descons at flyhalf in place of Jonathon Wisniewski but were distinctly second best in every area of play, prompting a typically sardonic reply from the French legend.

"There isn't much to say about a match that wasn't even one," he told La Montagne.

"Clermont completely deserved their success. We train as we play and we did not train this week. We paid for that today. This level [of performance] is just not close enough."

Former Brive utility back Régis Lepinas was the hero and villain in equal measure at Stade Amédée Domenech, scoring two tries, a conversion and a penalty to give the newly promoted side a vital 12-15 away win - a tally which provoked a hostile reaction from his former club's supporters.

"If I had taken everything to heart, it would have gone wrong," Lespinas told Midi Olympique.
"Brive is the club in my heart. I spent my youth here. It's my home and my family were in the stands on Friday night.

"Psychologically, I had to keep my concentration. I knew what to expect and knew I had to ignore the environment."